‘Not just to those who can afford it, but to everyone who desires it’

By Patrick Downes and Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald

A Catholic school education in Hawaii is not cheap. With tuition and fees costing thousands of dollars each year, many, if not most, Catholic families simply cannot afford it. Those who can often manage through considerable sacrifice.

And with the downturn in the economy, high energy costs, and thousands of lost jobs, this year is worse than most.

Tuition is up, again, though still a relative bargain Every Catholic school in Hawaii, except one, has raised tuition or fees, or both, from last year. Annual increases of a few hundred dollars are now pretty much a sure thing. Nevertheless, when compared to other private schools in Hawaii, Catholic schools remain relative bargains. Most Hawaii Catholic high school tuitions for 2008-2009 have not yet broken past the $10,000 mark. By comparison, the annual rates of private schools like Punahou, Iolani, Mid-Pacific Institute and Le Jardin Windward Academy hover around $15,000. Catholic elementary school tuitions range from $2,500 (plus $1,874 in fees) to $11,600 (no fees), though most fall somewhere between $4,000 and $6,000. The Hawaii public school system spent $9,876 per student in 2006. About half of Hawaii’s Catholic elementary schools include pre-school grades. Nine additional “early learning centers” are considered stand-alone operations. Many charge by the month in the $500 range. Others have annual tuitions comparable to that of elementary grades. In addition to tuition, about three-fourths of all Catholic schools charge “fees,” which range widely from $50 to over $1,000, to the base tuition. St. John the Baptist in Honolulu is the only school where the combined tuition and fees actually went down from last year. It is $272 less. Augustine Foundation offers diocesan tuition assistance The Augustine Educational Foundation is the diocese’s response to the need to make Catholic education affordable in Hawaii. Established by the late Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario in 1984 with the proceeds from the sale of St. Augustine School in Waikiki, the foundation has distributed millions in scholarships based on need to students in Hawaii Catholic schools over the past two decades. The fund, which continues to grow, has been built up over the years through private donations and large grants from the Henry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation among others. Bishop Ferrario himself left a significant personal donation to the foundation. According to the Augustine Foundation’s executive director Sue Ferandin, 1,160 students have applied this year for about 450 available scholarships. Last year, $500,000 was awarded to 418 students. High school students receive $1,250 and elementary students $1,000. Big tuition assistance comes from Kamehameha Schools With all the bad economic news this year came some good tuition news for Catholic schools in the form of Kamehameha School’s Pauahi Keiki Scholars Kindergarten Program. With the new program, Kamehameha has awarded this year more than $1.2 million in private-school kindergarten need-based scholarships to 240 children across the state. More than half of them, 125, in 23 Catholic schools, are receiving about $550,000. All of them potentially could have most or all of their tuition paid for the next 13 years through grade 12. Kamehameha is offering this program to a total of 720 students over a three-year pilot phase. Once accepted in the program, families may reapply each year to receive assistance through senior year in high school. The entire 15-year program will cost Kamehameha Schools $47 million. Kamehameha gives preference to students of Hawaiian ancestry. According the Hawaii Catholic Schools office, about 17 percent of Hawaii’s Catholic school students are of Hawaiian descent. Scholarship amounts are determined using a sliding scale based on the school’s tuition and the estimated amount each family is able to contribute. Kamehameha’s contribution is capped at $6,000 per student. Kamehameha started an earlier similar program for preschool children which Catholic school students have been taking advantage of.

There will always be private schools that serve those who have the money to pay for them. For their part, Catholic schools offer the lowest cost “private” education in Hawaii. But the purpose of Catholic schools is not to be elite or exclusive but to offer an “education in faith,” which Pope Benedict XVI said is a child’s “right.”

Our schools know this. They know if they raise tuition too high, fewer parents will be able to afford it. But they also know if tuition is cut too low, teacher’s salaries suffer and academic programs are compromised.

These are topics never far from the thoughts of superintendent of Hawaii Catholic Schools Carmen Himenes.

She said that, following the pope’s call, Hawaii Catholic schools must provide an education “not just to those who can afford it, but to everyone who desires it.”

But how do Catholic institutions offer a preference for the poor while necessarily raising tuition each year?

“It is a question that continually challenges us,” Himenes said. “I know it comes up all the time at school budgetary meetings.”

Many schools in Hawaii make an enormous effort to make their tuition affordable. An informal survey by the Hawaii Catholic Herald showed that Catholic schools in Hawaii each year raise and distribute millions of dollars in tuition assistance.

A few schools have foundations and endowments that provide a steady stream of scholarships based on both need and merit.

And all the schools surveyed find a way to give breaks to families facing situations of hardship like a lost job or an illness.

“Here in the islands, schools have lived up to their mission of taking care of families in need and have been doing that in a very profound manner,” the superintendent said.

But the need continues to exceed the means. Here are examples of how some schools in Hawaii provide economic assistance:

HOLY FAMILY SCHOOL

‘We said we’ve really got to do more’

Three years ago Holy Family School started an endowment to provide a source of financial aid for its students.

“We got to the point where we said we’ve really got to do more,” said principal Christina Malins.

The school started with a modest $6,000 raised at its 50th anniversary luau three years ago. An auction last year added another $6,000, and this year the second annual auction made $8,000 more.

“We have the school board committed to coming up a formula this summer on how best to work with the funds” which now total $20,000, Malins said. “The school board wants us to just start, even if it is just one percent.”

The principal hopes that perhaps one or two students will get some assistance this year from the fledgling endowment.

Some Holy Family students have received tuition assistance over the years from sources outside the school. The Augustine Educational Foundation helps a handful annually. And the military base chapels nearby at Hickam and Pearl Harbor, unsolicited, regularly give money to benefit students from active duty military families. This year Hickam gave $4,000, Malins said, providing four students with $1,000 each.

Between 60 and 75 percent of the students come from military families, creating a large turnover. Just this year 125 families left, the principal said, but new ones always come in, keeping enrollment between 475 and 500.

The school also provides tuition relief for hardship cases, such as last year when an early learning center student and a kindergartener were both diagnosed with cancer.

“Most really can stay on top of the tuition,” Malins said, but for those with real difficulty, the school has extended the deadline for payment or completely forgave the debt.

STAR OF THE SEA SCHOOL

In hardship cases, debt is forgiven

Although the school is situated in more affluent East Honolulu, Star of the Sea Elementary still has a need for some financial aid. At $7,290, its tuition is at the moderately high end.

According to principal Carola Souza, the school sets aside about $10,000 a year for assistance, which is usually distributed $1,000 at a time, but no more than $2,000. Last year about 10 students were helped, she said.

The school also has established a fund with the Augustine Foundation which provides scholarships of $1,000 for about four kids a year.

In some hardship cases, Star of the Sea will forgive some tuition debt rather than dismiss a student for incomplete payment.

“The money comes out of operation,” Souza said. “We have some flexibility, but we still have to pay our bills.”

ST. JOSEPH SCHOOL, MAKAWAO

Help flows from alumni, other parishes

St. Joseph School in Makawao, Maui, gives out about 12 grants a year ranging from about half to an eighth of the tuition — from $2,500 to $500, according to Beth Wills, the principal.

Three to five students a year also receive Augustine Educational Foundation funds, she said.

Some of the financial aid money comes from annual fundraisers including a Christmas craft fair held in mid-November, and the three-day parish and school fair in May called the Feast. Fifty percent of the proceeds from the Feast goes to the school.

“Our wonderful alumni” are a huge help and a strong base of support, Wills said. One of the ways they earn money for the school is by working at the annual Makawao Rodeo.

The school also gets contributions from two Maui parishes that don’t have schools — St. Theresa in Kihei and the Kula Catholic Community.

According to St. Theresa’s comptroller Greg Kauwe, the parish contributes $38,000 a year to Maui Catholic education, divided among schools in Wailuku, Kahului and Makawao.

He said St. Theresa has been doing it for at least six or seven years.

The donation, which comes out of the general funds, is for “whatever they want to use it for,” Kauwe said.

Father Geronimo “Eric” Castro, administrator of the Kula Catholic Community, said that every fiscal year the parish writes St. Joseph School a check for $7,000, though it may be a little less when parish income is lower than expected.

The Kula Catholic Community — Our Lady Queen of Angels Church and Holy Ghost and St. James Missions — is, at 15 minutes away, St. Joseph’s nearest neighboring parish. A few Kula children attend St. Joseph.

The parish contributes “because we [parishes without schools] were encouraged by our bishop to assist those parishes with schools,” Father Castro said.

Wills said that the FACTS management service, a national company which offers families a variety of tuition payment options, has been helpful in determining how much aid families need.

The school also tries to help as much as possible when a family faces unexpected financial hardship.

“When a parent comes into my office it’s so gut-wrenching” to listen to their stories, she said.

Wills said a number of parents were greatly affected by recent large company layoffs. “We try the best we can” to help them, she said.

“We are a small school, with a lot to offer and exceptional teachers,” she said. “We just need to fill our school.”

OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP SCHOOL, EWA BEACH

Benefactors, sponsors, fundraisers

According to principal Sister of St. Francis Davilyn Ah Chick, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Ewa Beach collects between $50,000 and $80,000 annually from benefactors, sponsors, and the school’s “Grand Giveaway” and family fair, the big yearly fundraising event scheduled for the first Saturday in March.

Thanks to these efforts, the school last year was able to support 39 of its approximately 225 students with tuition assistance. In addition, nine children of teachers received a 50 percent tuition discount.

The Augustine Foundation also helped seven families last year and five this year, she said, and the parish also provided tuition aid for one family.

Sister Davilyn has a policy that raises tuition by the same amount every year — $200 — so that families know what to expect and can plan accordingly, she said.

The principal also initiated a “family share” — now $300 per family — as part of school fundraising, which is given in addition to tuition and fees.

The principal said that the school will offer tuition relief when necessary to families hit with financial emergencies, such as a loss of a job.

The school has considered establishing an endowment or foundation to provide a steady source of assistance. But that remains in the discussion phase, “until a generous billionaire calls,” laughed Sister Davilyn.

ST. CATHERINE SCHOOL, KAPAA, KAUAI

Adopt-a- Student direct mail appeal

“This year we are helping 47 students from 29 families,” said Celina Haigh, principal of St. Catherine School in Kapaa, Kauai.

The funds come from the parish and school’s “Adopt-a-Student” program, now in its 12th year.

“Once a year we have a parish-wide appeal,” said Haigh, a direct mailing to registered members of the island’s three east-end churches that make up the parish — St Catherine, St. Sylvester and St William.

People give at different levels, some contributing monthly. Tourists are also a source of aid.

“Our visitors are most generous,” the principal added.

The school works closely with the Augustine Educational Foundation which offers additional assistance and also provides an aid application process that helps determine need.

“An in-house committee determines how the money is distributed,” Haigh said.

So far this year $50,000 has been dispersed, she said.

“It could be more as the year progresses,” Haigh said. “We have families that are struggling.”

SACRED HEARTS SCHOOL, LAHAINA

A parish tuition fund, a big bazaar

The Parish Tuition Assistance Fund of Lahaina’s Maria Lanakila Church and Sacred Hearts School provides about $75,000 in scholarships, according to school secretary Paula Pope.

This year, 38 students out of the school’s 200 enrollment received anywhere from $500 to $4,500, to offset the $5,000 tuition, she said. The Augustine Foundation also gave 12 students $1,000 each.

The Parish Tuition Assistance Fund is an endowment set up by the Franciscan Sisters when they administered the school about a decade ago.

A big annual parish and school fair the first weekend in March helps keep tuition costs down, said Pope, who has worked at the school for 17 years.

“We have a bazaar that has been netting $100,000 a year,” the secretary said. “Everybody works really, really hard.”

The community donates almost everything to the annual event which offers rides, games, entertainment, food, country kitchen, silent and live auctions and plants.

The church and school also promote an ongoing “adopt-a-student” program among parishioners and the mainland visitors that populate the tourist-friendly town.

The need is growing, Pope said.

“Most of our families are connected to the tourist business,” she said.

And as the industry weakens, “here on the west side it is getting harder and harder,” she said.

MARYKNOLL SCHOOL, HONOLULU

A dozen endowed scholarships

A visit to the Maryknoll School website will reveal a list of 12 endowed scholarships, mostly established by grateful former students of the 80-year old school. All are for students with a financial need. Most have additional requirements such as good grades, leadership and service.

Most of the scholarships bear the names of the donors: DeFontes-Quintal, Earl Joseph and Ann York Gallian, Father James Jackson, Ho-Ching, Vance O. Smith, Msgr. Charles Kekumano, Rudolph A. and Ralph W. Sylva, among others.

Students applying for financial aid are automatically considered for all of these scholarships except two, the Manoa-Punahou Catholic Community Scholarship for parish members and the Sylva scholarship which has a preference for students of Hawaiian ancestry.

These scholarships are in addition to the tuition assistance the school includes in its annual budget for students with a demonstrated financial need. The amount of assistance depends on the family’s need and the student’s grades.

Work-study, which offers tuition credit for work done on campus, is also available for high school students.

Maryknoll has awarded about $850,000 in aid for the new school year, according to communications coordinator Camille Michel.

“About 275 students are receiving tuition assistance,” she said, through all the aid options available.

Maryknoll has nearly 1,400 students, more than 830 in grade school and about 560 in high school.

SACRED HEARTS ACADEMY, KAIMUKI

This year, more requests than ever

Sacred Hearts Academy in Kaimuki has a student body of 1,080 girls from preschool through high school, and about a third of them receive tuition assistance based on financial need.

Business office manager Randy Iwashita said the school has received 400 applications for the upcoming school year and he expects more over the next several months. Iwashita says the majority of applicants qualify for aid and that $600,000-$700,000 in tuition assistance will be given. If a family’s financial situation changes, it can go through an appeals process with the business office to possibly get more help.

Head of school Betty White says there have been more financial aid requests this year than they’ve ever had before.

“It’s getting more challenging because, especially in this economy, the families that we are serving are having a very hard time,” she said. “We appreciate very much the Augustine scholarships we get.”

Sacred Hearts is also able to give assistance in part to its Annual Scholarship Gala and a $1.5 million endowment.

Students that receive financial aid participate in the school’s work-study program, serving in campus jobs ranging from library assistance to classroom cleaning.

ST. ANN SCHOOL, KANEOHE

We had a lot of Aloha Airline employees

About 18-20 percent of the St. Ann Early Learning Center and St. Ann Model Schools student body will receive financial aid during the 2008-2009 school year. Many families will particularly need that help this year, according to parish director of education, Daphne Kauhane.

“I do think it’s more difficult these days to send kids to Catholic schools because our enrollment reflects that, especially this year,” she said.

“At our school we had a lot of Aloha Airline employees,” Kauhane said. “We helped who we could to get through the last school year but many of them realized that they just couldn’t afford the tuition this year.”

About a dozen families were affected when the airline shut down, she said.

Thirteen students who are St. Ann parishioners will get $500-$1,800 each, out of a total of $16,500 this year from a subsidized tuition assistance fund. Another 28 students in the school will get $500-$2,000 — grants totaling $26,150 from the school’s “Scholarship Assistance” fund.

To replenish the scholarship fund, St. Ann has had a February scholarship dinner every year for the last three years.

One bright note this year are the new Kamehameha Schools Pauahi Scholarships that 11 St. Ann students were awarded.

“That was a tremendous help, I think,” Kauhane said.

DAMIEN MEMORIAL SCHOOL, KALIHI

Resources more difficult to come by

The Congregation of Christian Brothers, which runs Damien Memorial School in Kalihi, was founded with the purpose of providing Catholic schooling to low income families. The all-boys school tries to live up to that mission with its merit- and need-based financial aid.

In the 2007-08 school year, 42 percent of the seventh to 12th graders at the school received $578,800 in financial aid and merit scholarships. This school year, that amount slipped to 36 percent of the 540 students and $488,300 in aid because of a drop in enrollment of about 35 to 40, according to president Bernard Ho.

He believes that much of the enrollment decrease is due to families’ budgets being squeezed tighter.

“Resources generally speaking are harder to come by, both with parents and in terms of giving aid and endowments,” he said.

Damien is able to give tuition assistance and scholarships with the help of its annual fundraisers, a spring luau, a summer golf tournament and a huli huli chicken sale. Ho says Damien also has a very small endowment that he hopes to increase.

ST. ANTHONY SCHOOL, KAILUA

Hard to be affordable and cover expenses

St. Anthony Early Learning Center and School in Kailua offers tuition assistance for difficult cases, such as those this past school year when two families with parents who had worked for the recently-closed Aloha Airlines were struggling to cover school payments.

But aid applications in general were up this year.

“It’s difficult in the current state of the economy and we’ve had parents withdraw their kids or choose one child to stay,” said principal Bridget Olsen.

Olsen said that families get a built-in 5 percent tuition discount when more than one child is enrolled at St. Anthony.

The school also applies the $15,000 it receives from St. Anthony Parish each year toward financial aid.

This school year, 21 students will receive between $500 and $1,000. The school’s tuition is $4,975.

Olsen says that seven or eight kindergartners and three preschoolers will receive Pauahi Scholarships through Kamehameha Schools this coming year, covering most or all of their tuition.

The Parent Teacher Student Guild also awards $1,000 scholarships to a graduating boy and girl every year that will go on to Catholic high school.

She says that, for St. Anthony like most Catholic schools, it takes an effort to make its budget work while helping out harder-off students.

“It’s hard to come up with a tuition that’s affordable for the families and hold to the mission of Catholic education, which is that those who want to come to Catholic schools can,” the principal said. “We can’t run the school if we don’t at least cover our expenses.”